Far more women than men say being a working parent makes it more difficult to advance career

[Triana]

...and other findings about men vs women's careers: http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/12/11/10-findings-about-women-in-the-workplace/

[niyad]

1. does this surprise anyone?

[1000words]

2. Nothing personal, but trashing thread

These topics, and a certain "posse" it attracts, inevitably devolve into cartoonish sniping and personal projection.

[seabeyond]

3. "cartoonish sniping and personal projection" wow. and you got it in while sitting on your

self righteous high horse. bye bye....

[mythology]

4. There also seems to be an income penalty for women with children

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/women-can-have-it-all-theyll-likely-pay-mommy-penalty-2D11591390

"Budig’s research has shown that women generally make less money for each child they have, even after accounting for factors that would explain a salary reduction, like taking time off for child-rearing and career choice.

Men, on the other hand, are more likely to see an earnings boost for being married and having kids, also after accounting for other external factors that would impact earnings, according to Budig's research."

[Triana]

5. I've always suspected that.

Many would call that 'urban legend' - but it's fact.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

6. Far more men than women have stay-at-home spouses.

The thing that makes the biggest difference to balancing work and family is not how your employer behaves (although that obviously makes a big difference too), it's how much your spouse is willing to sacrifice (if they view it as a sacrifice, which of course they may not) their career in order to take care of the family.

There are a relatively large number of women who are either willing or eager to do more than 50% of the homemaking, and a relatively small number of men. And so there are many more men than women who will be able to devote themselves more fully to their careers.

If we want it to be easier for more women to focus on their careers, the single step that will help most is encouraging more men to be homemakers - at the moment, it's fairly firmly stigmatised.

Here in the UK, parental leave has just been made shareable, which I think will help, and is one of the few things this government has done that I approve of.